Aspirations of a novice solderer

It has always been a dream of mine to be a silversmith. I remember when I was younger, my family would vacation at Chautauqua Institute in New York. There was a silversmith artisan there by the name of Kathy Armstrong. My dad was a friend of hers and so I got to visit her at her studio. It was amazing and I really wanted to be able to learn how to create beautiful things with silver/metal.

So, as I have been working on some soldered jewelry for my sister Heather's birthday, I am drawn to look at all the creative artisans at etsy. By far one of my fave's is neile. She uses real butterfly/moth wings for her jewelry(see pics above). It is truly unique. As I gaze upon these beautiful works of art, I am dreaming of how I can do something like that. Looking online at classes in my area, I am amazed at how much a class costs to learn this trade and the amount of tools necessary. Wow. (breathe, breathe) So much to my dismay, I will not be able to create something of this calibre for some time. Until then, I will have these classes and tools on my wish/to do list.

So here I am again, dreaming of being a silversmith. All the beautiful things I can create.

H, you are a scrapalicious scrapgal!

My sister Heather is officially part of the scrapgal design team now. CONGRATS H! She made this layout recently. I can dig it! I love the colors and design of the paper. I think the butterflies are my favorite part!

So, Heather's birthday is coming up on the 16th. I am getting crafty at home for a one-of-a-kind special birthday gift. She has asked me to make some soldered pieces for her. So, last night I began my creative process. I picked out a bunch of different things to work on. (Which I will not disclose because she may be reading this....) I was surprised how quickly everything came back to me. It's quite therapeutic for me to go through the creative process of having an idea in my head and improvising with the things I find or have to make the idea come to life. Today will be installment 2 of the creative process. I will post pics after she receives my package. However I will post some pics soon of things I made for myself.

beginning something new

So, this is the beginning of something new.
The beginning of a part of me that everyone will see.
I don't know how it goes.
But I guess in time it grows.
This new part of me.